Beth and Mark take on Mont Ventoux!

Congratulations to Mark and Beth Skubis, a husband-and-wife pair coached by Peaks Coaching Group Master/Elite coach Bill Gros. They both completed a long-waited adventure of the daunting and iconic Mt Ventoux in France! 

 This was two events, the Mt Ventoux Gran Fondo, completed on June 12th, and then the Cingles Du Mount Ventoux completed on June 15th. Here are the links to each:

LAPIERRE GF MONT VENTOUX® - SEUL SITE OFFICIEL

This is a 94mile route with just shy of about 11,000feet of climbing and includes other climbs Col De La Madeleine, Col De La Gabelle, Rocher Du Cire, Col Des Abeilles, and finally the Giant of Provence, the Mount Ventoux, a 13.35mile climb ascending to 6273feet.

 Club des Cinglés du Mont Ventoux (clubcinglesventoux.org)

This is a TRIPLE ascent of Mt Ventoux, taken from the three different roads to the top, one from Bedoin, descend to Malaucene, and back to the top, then down to Sault. This totals 14600'+of climbing over 90 miles.

 For Mark and Beth, this was supposed to be completed in June of 2020 but was Covid delayed to June 2022 and the dream was completed! Their training consisted of trips to Tucson Arizona for multiple assaults on Mt Lemmon in April, followed by a long weekend of climbing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia over Memorial Day weekend. They then tapered and rested in preparation for the trip to France. Their training prepared them very well for all of the climbing, the TSS load, and the temperature, which reached over 100 on Ventoux during the Gran Fondo but was far more reasonable to the low 90's during the Cingles.

 Mark has been an athlete with me since 2012, which is the longest tenure of any of my clients. Beth has been with me since 2019 and what's fun about these two, is that they are completely different in terms of physiological make up, with Mark being a punchy rider with sprint capabilities and Beth more of a rolleur time trial type. This makes their training plans very different in some respects to prepare for events like this. Mark is typically a cyclocross racer and has done many criteriums and road races in his past. Beth is fairly new to the Gran Fondo scene and any level of competitive cycling is a new experience for her.  

 Again, congratulations to each, we at Peaks Coaching Group, are very proud of your accomplishment!